Why the World Race

Doing the world race was not in my life plan.

I graduated from college at 20 years old back in 2019. I got my bachelor’s degree in politics philosophy and economics, and my intention was to take a gap year, do a short mission and then in 2020 I was going to go back to school and get my teaching certificate and become a full time teacher by 2022. I had it all planned and it was going to be great.

As you may guess, God had other plans for me. Half way through my 5 month YWAM mission trip, COVID 19 shut down all travel and our outreach was cancelled. I ended up booking one of the last flights out of Australia for several months and getting home two and a half months early.  

I attempted to follow through with my plan to become a teacher but it fell through time and time again. Desperate to have something that fit in my plan, I decided to just pick different career paths until one of them stuck. 4 months later and a mountain of applications done, all I had to show for it was an equally tall mountain of rejection letters. Finally as January of 2021 came to a close I sat confused and desperate, praying that God would just show me what I have been doing wrong and why nothing I have been trying has worked out. That is when I realized that I was praying for the wrong thing.

I had spent the last 9 months asking God to adapt to my plan for my life and give me what I wanted. I had been expecting God to act in accordance with my will for my life. Upon this realization I chose to surrender my plans to God, I said, “Wherever you want to send me, no matter how crazy, I am willing to go.”

His answer was not what I wanted to hear. Go on the world race. Go spend 11 months sleeping on the ground in different countries and carrying everything you own on your back and spread the good news of Jesus. Go on another mission trip, go and try again.

I remember just sitting there in denial. I had looked at my last trip as a failure on my part and that I had somehow let God down because of a global pandemic preventing me from going on outreach. I didn’t want to fail again. I wanted to follow my plan and be done with the unknown. Besides, everyone in my life was just waiting for me to finally grow up and get an adult job and that is what I wanted to do.   

This is where God changed my heart.

He reminded me that my life is not about me, that I am to be His ambassador in the world. My purpose is to fulfill His calling for my life, not my plan for my life. My purpose is to walk in faith and rely on Him for everything. He reminded me that He is in control and that all I have to do is trust and obey.

So this is not my plan, it is God’s plan. And I am so honored that God has chosen me to fulfill this part of the great commission, that I get to go and make disciples of all nations. I get the privilege to go out and serve the people in the world who need it the most, to further his kingdom by being the hands and feet of Jesus. and to grow in my own walk by taking this huge leap of faith.  

So you ask me why the world race?

I say, “Because I choose to trust and obey.”